Memory distortions develop over time: Recollections of the O.J. Simpson trial verdict after 15 and 32 months

Fifteen or 32 months after the verdict was announced in the O.J. Simpson mu rder trial, we asked college students about how they had heard the news, an d we compared their responses with what they had told us 3 days after the v erdict. Our study is the first to have assessed recollective accuracy at tw o different intervals more than 1 year after a noted public event. The qual ity of the recollections after 32 months was strikingly different from the quality of the recollections after 15 months. After 15 months, 50% of the r ecollections were highly accurate, and only 11% contained major errors or d istortions. After 32 months, only 29% of the recollections were highly accu rate, and more than 40% contained major distortions. Retention interval app ears to be an important factor determining the frequency of memory distorti ons, and differences in the retention interval across studies may account f or some of the contradictions in the flashbulb-memory literature. Metamemor y errors and source memory difficulties are a likely basis of poor memory p erformance after long retention intervals. The results highlight the marked qualitative changes in recollections that can occur between 1 and 3 years after information has been acquired.